<p>Only after reading it carefully several times [was the poem beginning to make sense to me.] </p>
<p>(A) "
(B) was when I began to make sense of the poem
(C) I began making sense of the poem
(D) did the poem begin making sense to me
(E) did I begin to make sense of the poem</p>
<p>The answer is E. I know that A, B, D are out for sure because of modifier issues and B is just too wordy... but what makes C incorrect? It surely sounds awkward, but I can't place my finger on exactly why it is wrong. </p>
<p>I would appreciate it so much if someone could explain the technicalities!</p>
<p>I think it is the idea that the “I began” isn’t in the present, but that’s what I deduce.</p>
<p>I do believe this is an example of when the active voice makes things more correct.</p>
<p>Misplaced modifier actually.</p>
<p>Only after reading it carefully several times __________</p>
<p>The problem with choice D is that it assumes that the noun, “the poem”, is the thing doing the reading when it is in fact the person. Therefore choice E is the only logical choice.</p>
<p>yes, but why is C incorrect? it certainly sounds awkward but “began” is a past tense, but so is “did I begin to understand”…</p>
<p>Because choice C has no sort of conjunction or helping word that smoothly connects the two clauses. </p>
<p>Only after reading it carefully several times …</p>
<p>Choice C merely adds an independent clause to this sentence without any proper sort of connection. </p>
<p>“Only after reading it carefully several times I began to make sense of the poem”</p>
<p>Not only does that sound wrong, its grammatically incorrect. </p>
<p>Another thing to take into a account is that this one is also a type of an idiom. Only… did… can be used together in some circumstances and are done so by many English authors. Therefore A, B, C are all incorrect.</p>
<p>When you’re left with D and E, we know D is incorrect due to misplaced modifier, leaving only E correct</p>